Learn about diphthongs
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Hebrew Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn about Hebrew diphthongs. |
| WHAT ARE DIPHTHONGS? |
| But what exactly *are* diphthongs? |
| Diphthong' means *two* *sounds*. It's the term used to describe two vowel sounds that are pronounced close together in the same syllable. |
| "Take the English word 'pain' for example. |
| It's not pronounced 'pa-in', but 'pain'. |
| Or the word 'foul'. It's not 'fo-ul', but 'foul'." |
| Notice the difference? You can think of it like gliding from one vowel to the next very quickly. So diphthongs, begin one way and end in another. |
| Hebrew DIPHTHONGS |
| Hebrew diphthongs are quite similar to the ones in English, so if you know English, then most of them will already be familiar to you. |
| Let's take a look at a few common diphthongs in Hebrew. |
| "ַי |
| מים ""water"" |
| ָי |
| עיניים ""eyes""" |
| These diphthongs create the same sound as the English 'eye', or the diphthong in the word 'why'. Try it! |
| Next is... |
| "ֶי |
| ֶי |
| שילך ""that will go"" |
| מיוחד ""special""" |
| It's similar to the diphthong in the word 'hey'. Now *you* try! |
| Next is... |
| "וֹי |
| וֹי |
| גוי ""Gentile"" |
| נוי ""beauty""" |
| It's the same as the diphthong in the word 'boy'. Try it! |
| Here's the final one. |
| "וּי |
| וּי |
| פנוי ""available"" |
| נשוי ""married""" |
| It's the same as the diphthong in the word 'inuit'. Try it yourself! |
| Well done! In this lesson, you learned about Hebrew diphthongs. |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn about stress in Hebrew. |
| Do you have any tricks to help you pronounce diphthongs? Share them in the comments. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Hebrew Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
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